SME News Q2 2018

SME NEWS / Q2 2018 29 Salesforce to Invest $2.5bn in its UK Business Over Five Years to Support Growing Customer Base ways by leveraging cloud, social, mobile, AI and connected products with IoT. With the opening of the new space, Salesforce is now operating across nine floors in Salesforce Tower London, with plans to open a new ‘Ohana Floor’ by the end of 2019. The Ohana Floor will offer a unique hospitality and networking space for employees and customers to foster collaboration and will be available to non-profits on weeknights and weekends to host their own community events. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “London is a global leader for technology innovation. Salesforce’s continued investment and growth in London demonstrates the strength of our city’s tech sector and its attractiveness to major international tech businesses. It also shows that London is very much open to international talent and investment.” Salesforce also recently announced plans to expand its data centre capacity with a second UK data centre in 2019. The company’s increased office space and infrastructure capacity will further support the company’s rapidly growing base of customers in the region. In April, Salesforce was named the #3 Great Place to Work in the UK, the company’s fourth year on the list. Salesforce has also been named one of the best places to work by Glassdoor UK in 2018, highlighting the company’s focus on its employees, values and culture. Salesforce Ecosystem Fuelling UK Economic Growth Salesforce continues to foster British innovation through Salesforce Ventures’ $100 million EMEA Fund. In the UK, Salesforce Ventures has invested in several companies driving technology innovation including Onfido, DigitalGenius, Qubit and NewVoiceMedia. Salesforce Accelerate - a four-month accelerator programme designed to provide learning and support for start-ups and accelerate their time-to-market with the Salesforce AppExchange - is also taking place this summer, coming to EMEA for the first time. Salesforce and its ecosystem of customers and partners in the UK is expected to generate more than $65 billion of net new business revenues by 2022. It’s also expected to create more than 329,000 direct and indirect jobs in the same timeframe, according to research by IDC3. Additionally, Salesforce Trailblazers in the UK have earned more than 250,000 badges on Trailhead - the company’s free, gamified online learning platform - acquiring the skills needed to succeed in today’s technology-driven economy and be a part of Salesforce’s flourishing ecosystem. Salesforce’s Commitment to Giving Back in the UK Salesforce.org leverages Salesforce’s technology, people and resources to give back to communities around the world. In the UK, Salesforce employees are committing to volunteer 50,000 hours in their local communities in 2018. To date, UK employees have volunteered more than 166,000 hours working on local projects, including STEMettes, School 21 and Apps for Good. More than 2,900 British non-profits, including Homeless Link, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Unseen, use Salesforce for free or at a discounted rate. Salesforce.org has also donated more than $1.5 million in grants to the UK community, with a focus on workforce development and STEM education programmes, including Apps for Good, STEMettes and School 21. Most recently, Salesforce. org has supported The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Awards (iDEA) with strategic grants to develop and expand its digital learning platform, helping young people of all ages with free online learning that is designed to boost current and future employability. Since launching in 2017, the platform has had more than 60,000 learners who have completed around 360,000 digital badges across 40 countries, including the UK.